A shaded courtyard at Fayu Temple, photographed in August 2021.
Two temples, read through their spaces
Puji’s pool and central halls meet Fayu’s rising sequence of buildings; architecture also makes room for the ordinary work of a temple.
A cultural thread
Architecture & craft.
Halls, stone and the knowledge carried by things.
Stories along this thread
Begin with West Lake, then follow the cultural connections.
Rockery in the Tianyi Pavilion garden, photographed 24 September 2011.
Reading a Garden at Tianyi Pavilion
A pond, a long roof and a wooden bookcase show how the library was meant to be used and protected. The garden helps visitors read the building as a place for books, not just an old facade.
Book storage at Tianyi Pavilion, photographed in October 2008.
Fan Qin and the Books That Built Tianyi Pavilion
A sixteenth-century official carried a collecting habit across his career. The library he built in Ningbo turned that personal pursuit into a structure meant to outlast him.
Patterned fabrics and looms in the museum’s silk-craft exhibition.
A Thread Learns a Pattern
A loom, a cocoon and a patterned surface give China National Silk Museum a story that reaches well beyond Hangzhou.
A stone crossing over a Xitang canal, in a photograph published in 2016.
Bridges and Narrow Lanes in Xitang
Bridges connect Xitang’s waterways, while a very narrow lane reveals how closely its streets and houses fit together.
Beneath Xitang's langpeng: the tiled roof shelters the path while the canal remains open.
A Street Under a Roof
Xitang’s riverside corridor joins the canal to the shopfronts, making shelter part of the town’s everyday street form.
A youth-competition image in Wuzhen Scenic Area's festival introduction published in April 2021.
When the Town Becomes a Stage
Wuzhen’s theatre festival brings performances into courtyards, lanes and other shared spaces, turning the old town into a modern cultural venue.
Wuzhen's waterside rooms bring the house close to the channel.
Water at the Doorstep: How Wuzhen Faces Its Canals
In Wuzhen, water is more than a view. Bridges, riverside rooms and streets meet at the edge of everyday space.
Outer Moon River at night, in a photograph published by Jiaxing's city gallery in 2017.
A canal keeps a street company
At Yuehe, bridges, shopfronts and a curve of water bring Jiaxing's wider canal story down to walking pace.
Waterside rooms in Wuzhen, with windows opening above the canal.
When the river is a street
A doorway, a bridge and a stretch of roof reveal how Jiaxing's waterways gave everyday life its shape.
A courtyard at Lingyin Temple
A Temple Courtyard Teaches the Eye
At Lingyin, halls, open spaces and older stone details make architecture something to read in sequence.
The old timber well, Jingci Temple
The well that brought the timber
At Jingci Temple, a small circle of water opens onto a very large story.
Connected places
Hangzhou
West Lake
An umbrella, a line of poetry, a leaf of tea: discover a lake through the details that make it memorable.
Hangzhou
Lingyin Temple
Lingyin’s name, a travelling hill and the architecture of a living temple.
Ningbo
Tianyi Pavilion
A library planned around the care of books
Zhoushan
Mount Putuo
On Putuo Island, temple courtyards, wooded slopes and the sea meet in a place shaped by Guanyin devotion.
One thread, many places.
Photo credits and rights
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A shaded courtyard at Fayu Temple, photographed in August 2021.Maeshima hiroki · CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Resized; WebP conversion.
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Rockery in the Tianyi Pavilion garden, photographed 24 September 2011.Siyuwj · CC BY-SA 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Resized; WebP conversion.
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Book storage at Tianyi Pavilion, photographed in October 2008.Gisling · CC BY 3.0 Photo source ↗ Rights information ↗ Resized; WebP conversion.
